;D Well, guess I best ask you veterans now,before I screw it up again. Is my Verapamil that I take a PREVENTATIVE or a CYCLE BUSTER?  I thought it was a preventative as I took it for a year straight, but when a new cycle started 2 months ago, I had to double up on it to break the cycle.
   My only abortive treatment has been cold fresh air outside and time.
  I am planning on reducing my dosage of verap this time, so I can increase when next cycle starts. So I guess I am wondering if I should drop way down to the level I was taking just for high blood pressure,  or if a fairly high dosage of it all year around, actually does help to DELAY the next cycle from starting.

Would like some opinions on this.   (No Doctors please) >:(

I'm not a medical doctor...

Verapamil is just a preventive, so if you're in cycle (or chronic), it will help prevent some of the CHs from happening. It will not stop a cycle.

Prednisione is a preventive but for some people it can sometimes also break the cycle.

Changing doses is something that seems to happen with CH. Some people find that what used to work doesn't any more as the beast morphs over time. Work with a good neuro headache specialist to find what will work for you now.

Once you're out of cycle, you will probably be able to drop the dose well back to that used to control your blood pressure, but again, work with a doctor on this.

I haven't heard of taking verapamil to prevent a cycle from starting. Verapamil is used as a "prevent" while on cycle, the idea being to reduce the number and or intensity of your attacks. People who do not have high blood pressure, and only take it for CH, stop verapamil completely when their cycle is over. My suggestion to you would be to take it at your blood pressure maintaining levels off cycle, and kick it up when the cycle returns. But as with all "layman" advice, do run it by your doc too! ;)

When we speak of abortives, we're talking about what you do when an actual CH attack is starting, to kill the attack. Oxygen, Imitrex, Energy Drinks are all examples of what we refer to as abortives.

The only stuff I've seen used as "cycle busters" is a short, high dose burst of prednisone. For a small percentage of CH'ers that will bust a cycle. Then under the clusterbusters umbrella, mushrooms and some of their other alternative treatments will actually bust a cycle.

Just terminology, hope that makes it understandable!

Joe

Well thanks to both of ya. Didnt want to stop taking Verap if it was in fact delaying new cycle. Just gotta cut her back now.  Sure wasted a lot of it over last year.  Thanks to my fear of a return of The Beast. :o

IOH


Quote:

Thanks to my fear of a return of The Beast

You only have to fear the unknown....

'I shall bend, like a reed in the wind...'

Strength

Gary

Cluster headache.
From: START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE (Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases)
[Easy to read; one of the better overview articles I've seen. Suggest printing the full length article--link, line above--if you are serious about keeping a good medical library on the subject.]

Leroux E, Ducros A.

ABSTRACT: Cluster headache (CH) is a primary headache disease characterized by recurrent short-lasting attacks (15 to 180 minutes) of excruciating unilateral periorbital pain accompanied by ipsilateral autonomic signs (lacrimation, nasal congestion, ptosis, miosis, lid edema, redness of the eye). It affects young adults, predominantly males. Prevalence is estimated at 0.5-1.0/1,000. CH has a circannual and circadian periodicity, attacks being clustered (hence the name) in bouts that can occur during specific months of the year. ALCOHOL IS THE ONLY DIETARY TRIGGER OF CH, STRONG ODORS (MAINLY SOLVENTS AND CIGARETTE SMOKE) AND NAPPING MAY ALSO TRIGGER CH ATTACKS. During bouts, attacks may happen at precise hours, especially during the night. During the attacks, patients tend to be restless. CH may be episodic or chronic, depending on the presence of remission periods. CH IS ASSOCIATED WITH TRIGEMINOVASCULAR ACTIVATION AND NEUROENDOCRINE AND VEGETATIVE DISTURBANCES, HOWEVER, THE PRECISE CAUSATIVE MECHANISMS REMAIN UNKNOWN. Involvement of the hypothalamus (a structure regulating endocrine function and sleep-wake rhythms) has been confirmed, explaining, at least in part, the cyclic aspects of CH. The disease is familial in about 10% of cases. Genetic factors play a role in CH susceptibility, and a causative role has been suggested for the hypocretin receptor gene. Diagnosis is clinical. Differential diagnoses include other primary headache diseases such as migraine, paroxysmal hemicrania and SUNCT syndrome. At present, there is no curative treatment. There are efficient treatments to shorten the painful attacks (acute treatments) and to reduce the number of daily attacks (prophylactic treatments). Acute treatment is based on subcutaneous administration of sumatriptan and high-flow oxygen. Verapamil, lithium, methysergide, prednisone, greater occipital nerve blocks and topiramate may be used for prophylaxis. In refractory cases, deep-brain stimulation of the hypothalamus and greater occipital nerve stimulators have been tried in experimental settings.THE DISEASE COURSE OVER A LIFETIME IS UNPREDICTABLE. Some patients have only one period of attacks, while in others the disease evolves from episodic to chronic form.

PMID: 18651939 [PubMed]
==============
Take the time and effort to print out this 15-page review of treatments.

This is the single best listing of current therapies, with evaluations of effectiveness, which I've seen.

If you want a single document to drop on your doc in support of a particular therapy and/or to educate him---this may be it. (If you use it for this purpose, include all the reference pages at the end. They provide the evidence which a good doc would appreciate.)

When you hit this link it will require you to register for the site to gain access. The article is 15-pages long.

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

Thanks Bob. Saved that link and will be printing that one out. Very thorough info.

Thanks
              DAVE